Chapter VI – The role of the Documentary Filmmaker in Storytelling
In the previous chapters we already went over storytelling and how the advances in technology made film play a big role in the creative and entertainment industry. Film is still a young medium, but a medium that has a broad exploration in all facets of the film industry. I myself am most interested in documentary films and the making of those. They have gone from an entertaining pass time to something truly inspiring, this is something that I often hear after a friend or family member has watched a documentary. But why are these documentaries so inspiring? Is it just the end product of a semi-non-fiction production, the subject or is it the creator of the work the source that pulls them towards our interest?
Some of the creatives that mainly work with documentary have inspired me to pursue film as a medium and their work and work ethic will be touched on in this chapter.
Starting with documentary filmmaker, photographer and eventually artist: Agnès Varda (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Agnes-Varda ). This part is dedicated to her and her point of view while creating a film and the use of stories in them.
Varda has an immense body of work; throughout many years she has created and crafted. She has worked with several themes within the films and you strongly see photographic elements, because Varda initially started out as a photographer. Besides that, she herself has a strong presence in the work. In the book ‘The Cinema of Agnès Varda: Resistance and Eclecticism, there is one chapter that focuses on auteurism. Auteurism meaning; a critical film theory according to which the primary creator of a film is the director, all of whose works are said to reflect to a certain degree the characteristics of a personal style. (PAGE AND SOURCE)
Which is something I genuinely am inspired by. It is hard to describe this feeling just with words, so maybe I’ll just show you. I’ve collected fragments of interviews as well as fragments from the films and analysis from YouTube to support my thoughts and view on her works.
I want to mention a few of her works that stood out to me, varying in time period when they were made.
One thing that stood out to me and something I found most interesting was the way she worked on her film “ UNCLE YANCO“
INSERT ON SITE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW5attplYjA&ab_channel=FilmStruck
She talks about the process in this specific film where she met her uncle. Not planned ahead and only a few days to film. She used "Baroque editing" in combination with "white sound" then she filmed in such a way that the sentiment was well translated. During the filming days she could already imagine the kind of editing she wanted to do. "Express the excitement and joy, not just tell the meeting"
A (documentary) filmmaker, photographer and eventually artist: Agnès Varda. This chapter is dedicated to her and her point of view on film and the use of stories in them.
Varda has an immense body of work, throughout many years she has created and crafted. She isn’t bound to any themes in any of her film works, but she herself has a strong presence in the work. Which is something I genuinely am inspired by. It is hard to describe this feeling just with words, so maybe I’ll just show you.
In the book Agnès Varda between Film, Photography, and Art by Rebecca J. DeRoo… is a common trend.
Current notes:
15 Dec 2021
Source: TEDx Talks
"Inspiration and good mood: That's Cinema - according to Varda.
She talks about the process of one of her films where she met her uncle.
Not planned ahead and only a few days to film.
She used "Baroque editing" + "white sound"
And filmed in such a way that the sentiment was well translated.
She filmed in a way where she could already imagine the kind of editing she wanted to do.
"Express the excitement and joy, not just tell the meeting"
[Tout(e) Varda]
(min 15:30) "But you see, even in a fiction film, I like to have part documentary.
"At the age of 89 Legendary French New Wave and documentary director Agnès Varda reflects on how three ideas central to the life of an artist - inspiration, creation and sharing - have shaped her career over seven decades of filmmaking"
Varda final quote in the lecture:
"Power of imagination, freedom in creation.
That's what is art."
21 Feb 2022
Source Focus “The Cinema of Agnès Varda” – Resistence and eclecticism
(p.9) “Salut les Cubains (1964) is a distinctive political documentary, mostly made of animated photographs that Agnes Varda took on a trip to Cuba in 1962-1963”
Cont. Varda experiments with still images, sound and music + double off-screen commentary, to create a dialogue.
(p.41) Chapter Two “Aesthetics and Technique”
>> Often mentioned: auteurism.
29th March 2022
How the following films of Varda relate to the topic of storytelling and memories
LA POINTE COURTE
23rd March 2022
Mainly focus on films of hers and interviews. Directly coming from her.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvKDXiF2BbA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qpu-bP2ywc Varda sur la pointe courte.
“So the point of possibility of understanding and going with the two different aspects of life.”
Varda says that even long after completing the film LA Pointe Courte, she still visits the village every two years.
What I am trying to highlight here is that stories bring us closer. Whether that is stories we create, conduct, tell or get told. It must be a universal sentiment that is shared.
https://youtu.be/bFVrju3sP8A
26th March 2022
In this video Varda mentions how a close relationship and bond grew from working together on her film La Pointe Courte. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj8T2qE59M0 at 4:25 she says
“Il y a des fois que c’est juste le faite d’avoir filme des gens vivant dans un quartier vivant.”
Translation: "Sometimes it's just having filmed people living in a living neighborhood."
This is a beautiful way of putting it. Yes, Varda created a staged film, yet the sentiment and stories of the actual environment were captured as they were, this was mainly due to the fact that the actual towns people also played their parts in the film. ‘La Pointe Courte’ was a combination between fiction and reality, embodied by this Parisian couple (acted) and the town (reality)
Another Varda interview: https://youtu.be/vU-yO-b_uRo?t=170
La Pointe Courte and neo-realism.
FACES PLACES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEAkEJTBJ2U “It’s enjoyable to do a documentary”
6:45 Varda and RJ talk about how some of the dialogue within “Faces Places” was somewhat reenacted, in the same way how certain things in documentary are staged, such as position/pose of a person etc.
VARDA BY AGNÈS
(?) -sidenote: not per se an artistic film of hers more about her, but she has some interesting stories as well.
